Enriching the Sonnet: Wyatt's Poetry and the Refinement of the Medieval Lyric Amelia Coen College

“[he] Began eloquence with us.” (JONSON)

Medieval critics often date the beginning of modern poetry back to the emergence of Tottel’s Miscellany in the late Sixteenth century, specifically with the appearance of Wyatt and Surrey’s translations[1]. This is most likely attributed to the beginning of the humanist effort to refine English language and enrich literature, with a particular focus on the amelioration of style, as many poets of the Sixteenth century considered the vernacular of the earlier medieval period to be inadequate in comparison to the ornate style of continental poetry; it is indeed true that the early Middle English lyric had no ‘high art’ status that could be equated with the elegance of the French Troubadour and Trouvères traditions. This humanist effort to enhance the vernacular was given direction by the medieval notions of ‘elocutio’ and ‘imitatio’[2]as developments on syntax and style were furthered by the imitation of Petrarchan poetry. It is notable that editors of Tottel’s Miscellany catalysed these developments through the domestication of the sonnet, a traditionally Italian form, in order to achieve the literary excellence they associated with Classical poets; Peterson describes how, “the lyric was...